1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a network connection of a Small Computer System Interface (“SCSI”) storage device, and more particularly relates to extending a SCSI device driver to communicate with a remote event manager over a network using a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (“TCP/IP”) connection in response to an event generated by the storage device or SCSI device driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
SCSI is a standard interface and command set for transferring data between devices on both internal and external computer buses. SCSI is used most often for storage devices, such as hard disk drives (“HDD”), optical drives, and tape storage devices, but may also connect other devices such as printers, scanners, digital video disk (“DVD”) drives, etc. SCSI is often used on high-performance workstations and servers. A redundant array of inexpensive/independent disks (“RAID”) array typically uses SCSI. A storage area network (“SAN”) often includes RAID arrays and other configurations of storage devices and may communicate using SCSI.
A host computer may be connected to an external SCSI storage device and may run an application that interfaces with the storage device. The external storage device may be a standalone device or may be part of a SAN. The application running on the host may write data, update data, read data, etc. to and from the storage device through a SCSI device driver.
More functionality is being added into SCSI storage devices. In some of the new SCSI functions, storage devices may request data dynamically from other entities. For example, an encryption-enabled storage device may require an encryption key before data can be written or retrieved from the storage device. An application engaging the SCSI storage device may not have information required by the SCSI device and, as a result, may fail.
Remote error logging and error handling may also be desirable for a SCSI storage device. Remote error logging and handling and information requests and responses over a network with a remote event manager are not currently available through a SCSI device driver. A hardware solution may be possible to add a networking capability to the SCSI storage device to allow a network connection to a remote event manager. While a hardware solution may be possible, modification of hardware may be expensive and would not accommodate legacy SCSI storage devices.